--- Quote from: elephantschild on May 30, 2012, 10:25:14 PM ---These stories make me oh-so-grateful for the two men who married DH and I -- a Catholic priest (for his side) and a Baptist minister (for mine), working in tandem at my family's church. :) I know realize that priest could have gotten in trouble for how very laid-back on the matter he was, but I'm still grateful for the wonderful ceremony we had.

--- End quote ---

That is a very cool priest! I have read that technically they (the Catholic priest) aren't supposed to do that, but it's cool that he did it anyway. :)

My friend's brother in law passed several years ago and was Greek Orthodox, and they don't approve of cremation so their priest wouldn't conduct the funeral liturgy. I can't remember what they did instead, but they found some other way, and his wife did not attend that church for a very long time. She recently started to attend again, and the priest who is now at that church is a lot more relaxed, and when he was talking to friend's sister, she told him that story and he said "Well, we're not supposed to, but it's really up to us in the end. So if you decide to be cremated, I'll do your funeral liturgy."

That, and several other reasons, are why my friend and her family love this priest. :)

White Lotus:
Never have I been more grateful for the formality of OurSect Buddhist weddings and funerals. No extemporaneous speeches, no eulogies, no sermons. Just the service, which includes relevant (and non-sexist) readings from our seminal literature. You can do whatever you want at any receptions, but there is something to be said for formality in churches and temples. We tend to avoid other people's services generally as a matter of sect form, write a condolence note, make the donation, and do a service of our own for the deceased, and just go to the reception for the weddings, if that is OK with the HC. We do explain that it isn't strictly kosher (mixed metaphor, I know) for us to go to other kinds of religious services. Sometimes we just decline and send gifts to weddings. I had no idea this stuff happened! How dreadful! I am at an utter loss. I am going to find my jaw now. It's someplace on the floor.

Piratelvr1121:
The non-sexist part made me think of something I saw on fbook. Uncle's fiancee is a pastor and everyday will post on fbook a biblical quote, a famous person quote, and her own funny comments. One of her funny comments was that the Episcopal church had dropped the "Obey" from the bride's vows and wondered if she could get away with shifting their wedding to the Episcopal church across the street. (She preaches at a non-denominational Christian church)